DEMOGRAPHY

At midyear 1995, world population stood at 5,702,000,000, according to estimates prepared by the Population Reference Bureau. The 1995 figure was about 700 million higher than in 1987, when world population first reached 5 billion. The 1995 figure represented an increase of about 88 million over the previous year. The annual rate of population increase declined to about 1.54% in 1995 from 1.6% in 1994, a result of birthrate declines in both developing and industrialized nations. If the 1995 growth rate continued, the world’s population would double in the next 45 years. In 1995, 139 million babies were born, 125 million (90%) in developing countries. Each day, world population increased by 242,000, the result of 382,000 births and 140,000 deaths. More than 85% of the population growth in industrialized countries occurred in the United States. New data from censuses in 26 countries and territories were reported to the United Nations in 1995.

Worldwide, contraceptive use for all methods stood at 58% of married couples in 1995. Fully 49% of couples reported using a "modern" method such as clinically supplied contraceptives or sterilization. In less developed countries (LDCs) 55% were practicing some form of family planning and 49% were using a modern one. The percentage of couples who used contraceptives in LDCs was significantly low, however, except in China, where a vigorous family-planning program had raised contraceptive usage to high levels. When China was excluded, only 33% of couples in LDCs were using a modern method. Sub-Saharan Africa reported the lowest level of usage, 11%, while Latin America had the highest figure among LDCs, 51%.

In 1995, 32% of the world’s population was below the age of 15 in 1995, but the figure was 38% in LDCs outside China. In more developed countries (MDCs), 20% were below age 15, and the figures dropped as low as 16% for Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. (The younger age distribution of LDCs in 1995 was expected to result in a large number of youths entering the childbearing ages in the near future, which should offer considerable potential for population growth.) Only 5% of the population in LDCs was over the age of 65, compared with 13% in MDCs. Sweden, with 18%, remained the country with the highest percentage above age 65.

Nearly half--43%--of world population in 1995 lived in urban areas. (For World’s 25 Most Populous Urban Areas, see Table.) In LDCs 35% of the population was classified as urban, compared with 74% in MDCs. Among the world’s least urbanized countries was Burundi, with only 6% urban population in 1995.

On average, life expectancy at birth was 64 years for males and 68 for females. In MDCs the same figures were 70 and 78 and in LDCs 62 and 65, respectively. In 1995 males could expect to live one year less than in 1994; this statistic was due primarily to rapidly declining health conditions in the republics of the former Soviet Union. The 1995 world infant mortality rate stood at 62 infant deaths per 1,000 live births--10 in MDCs and 67 in LDCs.

Less Developed Countries

The share of world population growth occurring in LDCs increased to 98% in 1995. Of the 88 million people added annually, about 86.5 million were in the world’s poorer nations. At the 1995 pace of childbearing, women in LDCs were averaging about 3.5 children each during their lifetime, slightly more than double that of MDCs. In LDCs, excluding the large statistical effect of China’s 1.2 billion population, women averaged four children each. This was far from the "two-child family" essential to slowing population growth to zero and stabilizing world population size.

The release of the first national fertility survey of India, the world’s second most populous country, made major demographic news. India’s total fertility rate (TFR), the average number of children a woman would bear during her lifetime, assuming that the rate of childbearing in a given year remains constant, fell to 3.4 children per woman. The State Statistical Bureau of China, the world’s most populous country, reported that the TFR had dropped to 1.86 in the previous year.

In 1995 life expectancy in Africa was the world’s lowest, at 53 years for males and 56 for females. Even so, because that continent reported the world’s highest birthrate--a TFR of 5.8 (6.2 in sub-Saharan Africa)--its population growth was the world’s fastest, at 2.8% annually. Overall, Africa’s population stood at 720 million.

Latin America’s population stood at 481 million in 1995, with an annual growth rate of 1.9%, down from 2% in 1994. The TFR in this region remained a comparatively modest 3.1, ranging from 5.4 in Guatemala to 1.8 in Cuba, the same as it was in 1994. Life expectancy rose to 66 for males and 72 for females.

Asia’s population grew from 3.4 billion in 1994 to 3.5 billion in 1995, although its growth rate of 1.7% was the lowest of the developing regions. China’s population reached 1,219,000,000, but the growth rate continued falling, to 1.1%. Population growth rates in the Pacific Rim countries of East Asia fell to historically low levels. This region was close to approaching the low birth and death rates characteristic of industrialized countries.

Despite the fact that birthrates were declining and growth rates were lower in many developing countries, an important distinction had to be drawn between lower growth rates in 1995 and future prospects. Even at the current lower birthrates, world population would soar to well over 50 billion by the end of the 21st century and increase very rapidly thereafter. Mathematically, this placed great importance on the birthrates in developing countries declining to about two children per woman if world population size was to stabilize.

Population and Human Relations: Year In Review 1995. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/470312/Population-and-Human-Relations-Year-In-Review-1995

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